The Inflatable Archive, Rochester Art Gallery, Kent

Claire Orme and Drew York have taken the pristine, clinical setting of the Rochester Art Gallery and imbued it with mystery, story telling and forgotten sounds. Their exhibition ‘The Inflatable Archive’ is concerned with merging contrasts, such as the ancient with the modern, sound into visuals, the real and the imagined.

On entering the gallery space we are immediately drawn into the narrative by Claire Orme’s ‘The Cart of Curiosity’, a large, wooden, old fashioned cart. It carries a microcosm of the British Seaside upon it, and is covered with a layer of sand and a vast array of colourful seashells. The magnifying glass which is attached to the cart reminds us to take time to look closer and to consider the history that lies within the familiar.

The history of the Medway Towns and the traditions of Chatham Dockyard are reimagined through the innovative work of Drew York. York uses 3D printing techniques to explore the elusive audio history of the past. He raises questions such as ‘what would the sound of the Dockyard look like as a tangible object’ and creates a visual response to sonic questions of this nature. The immaculate, sparkling white shells which have been created through this 3D printing process are beautiful art objects in their own right. Using these exquisite artefacts to play with the notion of how sound might look like adds an additional power.

Water, and objects that surround the water, feature prominently within this collection of work. Whether it be by playfully representing a submarine as an inflatable beach toy, or by allowing us to marvel at the mystery and diverse nature of seashells in a collector’s cabinet. The artists drew inspiration for this exhibition from Oskar Fischinger’s quote: "Everything in the world has its own spirit which can be released by setting it into vibration." Orme and York have attempted to depict how these vibrations permeate objects, places and different ages through their eclectic artworks.

The Inflatable Archive is an interactive exhibition. Claire Orme and Drew York allow us to explore the space, to pick up the majority of objects and to examine the artworks closely. By doing so they encouraging us to explore, question and develop our own ideas about the central themes of the exhibition.